Scholarship Injustice
By: Ramsay Campbell
Year after year, senior students scratch and crawl thru scholarship applications in order to afford the university of their choice. Again and again deserving students are overlooked for less qualified students for numerous reasons: financial need, athletic ability, ethnicity, etc. This is increasingly concerning for students and parents who are in need of scholarship money. Students, who have parents that make a certain amount in income who might actually be in need of scholarships, are being denied merit based scholarships because they are not classified as being “in need” by the federal government. This means that some of the students that have been working for the full four years to build their GPA and extracurricular activities are being passed up for well deserving scholarships. I think this is a major problem in America today because it limits the students opportunities, disregards the students abilities, and goes against one of the most significant ideals of America: you work for what you get.
Before moving forward, I would like to make the point that this article is about merit-based scholarships. Merit based scholarships are scholarships awarded to students based on academic achievements, community service, extracurricular, athletic/artistic/musical ability, etc. These are not need-based scholarships, which are awarded to students that have special circumstances and have a legitimate financial need. Never the less, most merit based scholarships do have financial stipulations that limit the number of students eligible for the scholarship that are just as or more qualified than the students that receive the scholarship.
The problem with merit based scholarships asking for and basing part of their decision on financial need is that it stops being a merit based scholarship and becomes a need-based scholarship. This contradicts everything that so-called “merit based” scholarships stand for. The student with the most credentials should receive the scholarship not the student who simply has more of a financial need. This excludes many students that have worked for four years to build up their resume because they might have parents with a higher income.
Just like need-based scholarships, a merit-based scholarship might be all a student has to go to school on. Just because your parents make a higher income, does not mean they can afford the schooling the child needs. There are always certain circumstances that might limit a parents ability to pay for school even with a higher income: medical bills, no savings, child might be financially independent completely, other siblings to pay for, etc. That is why merit-based scholarships exist, they are for the kid who has done what they were supposed to during high school (make good grades and be involved in activities), but might not have the support from the government or need-based scholarships.
With the limits of financial need in merit-based scholarships, we are also neglecting one of the principles the nation was built on: you get what you work for. The kids that are eligible for merit-based scholarships are not eligible because they sat around and did nothing. They studied, got involved in the community and clubs, joined student government, and made a name for themselves in high school: a name that should be recognized in a merit-based scholarship, not how much money is in the bank. We are teaching each kid that is denied a scholarship due to lack of financial need, that this principal is worthless in the real world. Hard work should be awarded, and that is what merit-based scholarships were made for but they have lost their way with the proof of financial need requirement.
This is a real problem that every senior at Hudson High School must face at some point, and I hope that each and every one of us gets what we have worked so hard to build. I also hope that the chairmen of these scholarships see the foolishness of putting financial need as a requirement on merit-based scholarships, and put an end to this scholarship injustice.
Scholarship Injustice
By: Ramsay Campbell
Year after year, senior students scratch and crawl thru scholarship applications in order to afford the university of their choice. Again and again deserving students are overlooked for less qualified students for numerous reasons: financial need, athletic ability, ethnicity, etc. This is increasingly concerning for students and parents who are in need of scholarship money. Students, who have parents that make a certain amount in income who might actually be in need of scholarships, are being denied merit based scholarships because they are not classified as being “in need” by the federal government. This means that some of the students that have been working for the full four years to build their GPA and extracurricular activities are being passed up for well deserving scholarships. I think this is a major problem in America today because it limits the students opportunities, disregards the students abilities, and goes against one of the most significant ideals of America: you work for what you get.
Before moving forward, I would like to make the point that this article is about merit-based scholarships. Merit based scholarships are scholarships awarded to students based on academic achievements, community service, extracurricular, athletic/artistic/musical ability, etc. These are not need-based scholarships, which are awarded to students that have special circumstances and have a legitimate financial need. Never the less, most merit based scholarships do have financial stipulations that limit the number of students eligible for the scholarship that are just as or more qualified than the students that receive the scholarship.
The problem with merit based scholarships asking for and basing part of their decision on financial need is that it stops being a merit based scholarship and becomes a need-based scholarship. This contradicts everything that so-called “merit based” scholarships stand for. The student with the most credentials should receive the scholarship not the student who simply has more of a financial need. This excludes many students that have worked for four years to build up their resume because they might have parents with a higher income.
Just like need-based scholarships, a merit-based scholarship might be all a student has to go to school on. Just because your parents make a higher income, does not mean they can afford the schooling the child needs. There are always certain circumstances that might limit a parents ability to pay for school even with a higher income: medical bills, no savings, child might be financially independent completely, other siblings to pay for, etc. That is why merit-based scholarships exist, they are for the kid who has done what they were supposed to during high school (make good grades and be involved in activities), but might not have the support from the government or need-based scholarships.
With the limits of financial need in merit-based scholarships, we are also neglecting one of the principles the nation was built on: you get what you work for. The kids that are eligible for merit-based scholarships are not eligible because they sat around and did nothing. They studied, got involved in the community and clubs, joined student government, and made a name for themselves in high school: a name that should be recognized in a merit-based scholarship, not how much money is in the bank. We are teaching each kid that is denied a scholarship due to lack of financial need, that this principal is worthless in the real world. Hard work should be awarded, and that is what merit-based scholarships were made for but they have lost their way with the proof of financial need requirement.
This is a real problem that every senior at Hudson High School must face at some point, and I hope that each and every one of us gets what we have worked so hard to build. I also hope that the chairmen of these scholarships see the foolishness of putting financial need as a requirement on merit-based scholarships, and put an end to this scholarship injustice.
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